AStudent said:
I blame the first two letters.
Wow, I'm sure that was real helpful to the OP.
Anyway, I'm not sure exactly what your question is: Are you asking why you were called in for a third interview? Or why you were waitlisted? Or maybe it's a little of both?
To address the first possible question, after interviewing at MSU, your interviewers fill out a sheet and give you a priority score. If those priority scores differ by more than a point, the committee invites you back for a third interview, in order to get "more eyes on you," so to speak, and try to rectify/average the difference.
If it's the second question, the answer is, who knows!? There are a couple of possibilities. While your first faculty interview may have thought you were perfect for the program, and you truly could be, perhaps your other two interviewers did not agree. Or perhaps there were other candidates who were "more perfect" than you.
It could also be that while your interviewers gave good evaluations on you, the committee decided otherwise. Remember, just because you have a good interview, does not mean the committee is obligated to accept you. Your evaluator can make a good recommendation for you, or pull for you with the committee (if they're on the committee, but remember too, that not every interviewer is a member of an admissions committee), but there's still 20 or more people who can choose not to follow the recommendation of your interviewers and vote you down.
It's also possible that even if the committee did vote to accept you, they may not have had any acceptances to extend. Obviously, they are still interested in you as an applicant (they have a pretty rigorous screening process) because they waitlisted, rather than rejected, you.
I know it's rough, and it's really hard not to take things about this whole process personally. I'm a reapplicant, so I have a lost of experience with the entire application process, and I have been in your shoes multiple times. At several different schools, my interviewers all liked me, told me straight up that I was a good match for their program and that they were going to pull for me in the committee. At some of the those places I was waitlisted, and others, rejected after months of waiting (against the recommendation of my interviewers I might add, because I have kept in touch with them and they told me so--granted they could be lying, but I doubt they'd waste the time or the effort).
More often than not, this process is just a roll of the dice--it sucks, but sometimes it comes up snake eyes for no good reason. Things like residency, background, etc., can all come into play. Committees are often trying to create a class that looks diverse and perfect on paper. For example, they may have already accepted people like you i.e. with similar stats, background, etc. So they may say, "we've already got one of her, we need something different." So they choose someone from a different state, different college/university, different major, different EC's, different experiences, etc.
If you've been accepted other places, think "MSU may not want me, but I'm still going to be a doctor! They'll be sorry when I get those kick ass board scores!" Or if you're still really interested in MSU, keep in touch with your interviewers, update them of decisions made on your application (who knows, maybe they could still pull for you, but you can't just wait it out--you have to give them a reason to fight for you!), and definitely keep in touch with the school. Tell them why you want to go there, what aspects that you could bring to the program, and why their incoming class would be incomplete without you. As my father likes to say, "No, is only the first answer," so keep trying and don't give up!
I hope that helps--sorry if it doesn't!
Best of luck, ummom!
